Improvement in castanets



W. 'HUTCHINGS. GASTANET.

Patented July 16,1877.

Ira/editor.- Y

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HUTOHINGS, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CASTANETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 192,999,

dated July 10, 1877 application filed April 23, 1877.

10 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HUTCHINGS, of the city and county of Providence. and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oastanets and other instruments used in accompanying music; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in an improvement over the Spanish cast-anet and the bones or clappers used in beating time to the guitar, banjo, and other musical instruments. It is constructed and arranged so that it can be more easily used, and less liable to loss of parts, than the instruments named. It is provided with a triangular finger-piece and a flat sounding-board, which are connected to gether in the center, so that by grasping the finger-piece with the thumb and fingers the 1 performer, by bending the wrist backward and forward, will cause the sounding-board to strike the finger-piece, and thus produce the sound required, either hard or soft, fast or slow, according to the will of the operator and the music he is accompanying.

In the drawing, A represents the fingerpiece; B, the sounding-board; O, the axisloop.

The finger-piece A is made of a triangular form, of wood or other suitable material, and is perforated in its acute angle to permit the passage of the axis-wire, as shown at D.

The sounding-board B is made in the form of an oblong square or parallelopiped, and is perforated or drilled to allow the ends of the loop 0 to be forced into and connect it with the finger-board A, as shown at D and E.

The axis-loop G is formed by forcing a piece of wire through the finger-piece at D, bending it on each side at right angles with it, and then turning the ends of the wire into the holes drilled for them in the sounding-board, as shown at E.

Staples may be used in place of the axisloop, and substantially the same effect will be secured.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. A castanet consisting of the board B, the finger-piece A, made triangular, as shown, and the axis-loop 0, all constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

2. In a castanet or like instrument, the triangular piece A, of wood or other suitable material, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

WILLIAM HUTGHINGS.

Witnesses:

F. UHLLLINGWORTH, MARY A. CHILLINGWORTH- 

